scholarly journals Fake News Detection in Aging During the Era of Infodemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 976-977
Author(s):  
Didem Pehlivanoglu ◽  
Tian Lin ◽  
Kevin Chi ◽  
Eliany Perez ◽  
Rebecca Polk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Detection Accuracy ◽  
Fake News ◽  
News Content ◽  
News Consumption ◽  
Analytical Reasoning ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Consumption Frequency ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Analytic Reasoning

Abstract Increasing misinformation spread, including news about COVID-19, poses a threat to older adults but there is little empirical research on this population within the fake news literature. Embedded in the Changes in Integration for Social Decisions in Aging (CISDA) model, this study examined the role of (i) analytical reasoning; (ii) affect; and (iii) news consumption frequency, and their interplay with (iv) news content, in determining fake news detection in aging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Young (age range 18-35 years, M = 20.24, SD = 1.88) and older (age range 61-87 years, M = 70.51, SD = 5.88) adults were randomly assigned to view COVID or non-COVID news articles, followed by measures of analytical reasoning, affect, and news consumption frequency. Comparable across young and older adults, fake news detection accuracy was higher for news unrelated to COVID, and non-COVID fake news detection was predicted by individual differences in analytic reasoning. Examination of chronological age effects further revealed that detection of fake news among older adults aged over 70 years depended on interactions between individual CISDA components and news content. Collectively, these findings suggest that age-related susceptibility to fake news may only be apparent in later stages of older adulthood, but vulnerabilities are context dependent. Our findings advance understanding of psychological mechanisms in fake news evaluation and empirically support CISDA in its application to fake news detection in aging.

scholarly journals News veracity detection among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of analytical reasoning, mood, news consumption, and news content

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didem Pehlivanoglu ◽  
Tian Lin ◽  
Kevin Chi ◽  
Eliany Perez ◽  
Rebecca Polk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Fake News ◽  
News Content ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
News Consumption ◽  
Analytical Reasoning ◽  
Related Risk ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Increasing misinformation spread, including related to COVID-19, is concerning and poses a particular threat to older adults given their enhanced subjective risk perception, disease-related risk, and impaired decision making. To date, psychological factors contributing to news veracity detection in aging are not well understood. This study determined the role of (i) analytical reasoning; (ii) mood; and (iii) news consumption on real and fake news detection among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic; and examined (iv) the extent to which news content moderated these associations. Participants were randomly assigned to view either COVID-related (N = 119) or non-COVID (N = 123) news articles, followed by analytical reasoning, mood, and news consumption measures. Accuracy for non-COVID fake news was higher than accuracy for non-COVID real news; with this effect not present for COVID-related news. Further, higher analytical reasoning (but not mood or media consumption) was associated with greater non-COVID fake news accuracy, while accuracy for non-COVID real news, or COVID-related real and fake news, did not vary by analytical reasoning ability. Uniquely extending previous work into aging, the novel findings generated here are discussed in the context of psychological mechanisms underlying news veracity detection and related decision-making processes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Goal disengagement capacities and severity of disease across older adulthood

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joelle Jobin ◽  
Carsten Wrosch
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Older Adulthood ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Goal Disengagement ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Early Old Age

This study examined age-related associations between goal disengagement capacities, emotional distress, and disease severity across older adulthood. Given that an age-related increase in the experience of stressors might render important goals unattainable, it is expected that goal disengagement capacities would predict a decrease in the severity of experienced illness (i.e., the common cold) by preventing emotional distress (i.e., depressive symptoms), particularly so among individuals in advanced (as compared to early) old age. This hypothesis was tested in a 6-year longitudinal study of 131 older adults (age range = 64 to 90). Regression analyses showed that goal disengagement capacities buffered 6-year increases in older adults’ cold symptoms, and that this effect was significantly pronounced among older-old participants. Mediation analyses further indicated that changes in depressive symptoms exerted an indirect effect on the age-related association between goal disengagement and changes in cold symptoms. The study’s findings suggest that goal disengagement capacities become increasingly important for protecting emotional well-being and physical health as older adults advance in age.

scholarly journals Neurometabolic Correlates of Reactive and Proactive Motor Inhibition in Young and Older Adults: Evidence from Multiple Regional 1H-MR Spectroscopy

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akila Weerasekera ◽  
Oron Levin ◽  
Amanda Clauwaert ◽  
Kirstin-Friederike Heise ◽  
Lize Hermans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Proactive Inhibition ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Reactive Inhibition ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Right ◽  
Age Range

Abstract Suboptimal inhibitory control is a major factor contributing to motor/cognitive deficits in older age and pathology. Here, we provide novel insights into the neurochemical biomarkers of inhibitory control in healthy young and older adults and highlight putative neurometabolic correlates of deficient inhibitory functions in normal aging. Age-related alterations in levels of glutamate–glutamine complex (Glx), N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), and myo-inositol (mIns) were assessed in the right inferior frontal gyrus (RIFG), pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA), bilateral sensorimotor cortex (SM1), bilateral striatum (STR), and occipital cortex (OCC) with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS). Data were collected from 30 young (age range 18–34 years) and 29 older (age range 60–74 years) adults. Associations between age-related changes in the levels of these metabolites and performance measures or reactive/proactive inhibition were examined for each age group. Glx levels in the right striatum and preSMA were associated with more efficient proactive inhibition in young adults but were not predictive for reactive inhibition performance. Higher NAA/mIns ratios in the preSMA and RIFG and lower mIns levels in the OCC were associated with better deployment of proactive and reactive inhibition in older adults. Overall, these findings suggest that altered regional concentrations of NAA and mIns constitute potential biomarkers of suboptimal inhibitory control in aging.

scholarly journals Machine-Learning Analysis of Voice Samples Recorded through Smartphones: The Combined Effect of Ageing and Gender

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
pp. 5022
Author(s):  
Francesco Asci ◽  
Giovanni Costantini ◽  
Pietro Di Leo ◽  
Alessandro Zampogna ◽  
Giovanni Ruoppolo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Combined Effect ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Age Related ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Learning Analysis

Background: Experimental studies using qualitative or quantitative analysis have demonstrated that the human voice progressively worsens with ageing. These studies, however, have mostly focused on specific voice features without examining their dynamic interaction. To examine the complexity of age-related changes in voice, more advanced techniques based on machine learning have been recently applied to voice recordings but only in a laboratory setting. We here recorded voice samples in a large sample of healthy subjects. To improve the ecological value of our analysis, we collected voice samples directly at home using smartphones. Methods: 138 younger adults (65 males and 73 females, age range: 15–30) and 123 older adults (47 males and 76 females, age range: 40–85) produced a sustained emission of a vowel and a sentence. The recorded voice samples underwent a machine learning analysis through a support vector machine algorithm. Results: The machine learning analysis of voice samples from both speech tasks discriminated between younger and older adults, and between males and females, with high statistical accuracy. Conclusions: By recording voice samples through smartphones in an ecological setting, we demonstrated the combined effect of age and gender on voice. Our machine learning analysis demonstrates the effect of ageing on voice.

Age-Related Changes in Presynaptic Inhibition During Gait Initiation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solival Santos Filho ◽  
Daniel Boari Coelho ◽  
Carlos Ugrinowitsch ◽  
Caroline Ribeiro de Souza ◽  
Fernando Henrique Magalhães ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Presynaptic Inhibition ◽  
Gait Initiation ◽  
Quiet Stance ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Contraction Ratio ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Age Related Changes ◽  
Presynaptic Control

Abstract Age-related changes in presynaptic inhibition (PSI) have not been observed during gait initiation, which requires anticipatory postural adjustment (APA). As APA is centrally modulated and is impaired in older compared to young adults, here we aimed to study the presynaptic control and co-contraction levels in the ankle muscles during gait initiation in older compared to young adults. Fifteen older (age range 65–80 years) and 15 young adults (age range 19–30 years) performed a gait initiation task on a force platform under 3 conditions: (i) without electrical stimulation; (ii) test Hoffman reflex (H-reflex); and (iii) conditioned H-reflex. H-reflexes were evoked on the soleus muscle when the APA amplitude exceeded 10%–20% of the average baseline mediolateral force. Participants also performed quiet stance as a control task. Results showed that both age groups presented similar PSI levels during quiet stance (p = .941), while in the gait initiation older adults presented higher PSI levels, longer duration, and lower amplitude of APA than young adults (p < .05). Older adults presented higher co-contraction ratio in both tasks than young adults (p < .05). Correlations between the PSI levels and the APA amplitude (r = −0.61, p = .008), and between the PSI levels and the co-contraction ratio during gait initiation (r = −0.64, p = .005) were found for older adults only. APA amplitude explained 49% of the variance of the PSI levels (p = .003). Our findings suggest that older compared to young adults have increased presynaptic control to compensate for the decreased supraspinal modulation on impaired APAs during gait initiation.

Age-Related Attributions of Experienced Changes in Life: Origins and Implications

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Rothermund ◽  
Maria Clara Pinheiro de Paula Couto ◽  
Helene H Fung ◽  
Sylvie Graf ◽  
Thomas M Hess ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Personal Control ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Life Changes ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Future Project ◽  
Subjective Aging

Abstract Objectives Attributing life changes to age represents a core marker of the subjective experience of aging. The aims of our study were to investigate views on aging (VA) as origins of age-related attributions of life changes and to investigate the implications of these age-related attributions for personal control (PC) and life satisfaction (LS). Methods Life changes and the attribution of life changes to age were independently assessed on a large international sample of older adults (N = 2,900; age range 40–90 years) from the Ageing as Future project. The valence of VA, PC, and LS were also assessed to investigate possible determinants (VA) and consequences (PC and LS) of age-related attributions of life changes. Results Attributions to age were shown to depend on the valence of experienced life changes, with more negative changes being linked to more age-related attributions. This relation was moderated by the valence of personally held VA, with more negative VA amplifying the relation between negative life changes and age-related attributions. Age-related attributions predicted reduced PC and lower LS and were found to exacerbate the effects of negative life changes on LS, especially for the older cohorts of our sample. Discussion Our findings help to better understand what determines age-related attributions of life changes and highlight the negative consequences of attributing them to aging. Age-related attributions of change are a major factor that worsens the subjective aging experience. Methodologically, our study emphasizes the necessity to separately assess changes and their attributions to age.

scholarly journals The Role of Motivation and Anxiety on Error Awareness in Younger and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Di Rosa ◽  
Fabio Masina ◽  
Antonino Vallesi ◽  
Daniela Mapelli
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Experimental Task ◽  
Error Awareness ◽  
Age Related ◽  
State And Trait Anxiety ◽  
Reward Motivation ◽  
Age Range

Aging is associated with several changes in cognitive functions, as well as in motivational and affective processes, which in turn interact with cognitive functions. The present study aimed to investigate error awareness (EA), which declines with aging, in relation to motivation and anxiety. Adopting an experimental task, we firstly tested the hypothesis that EA could be enhanced through reward motivation. Secondly, we explored the relation between state and trait anxiety and EA, investigating the hypothesis of an association between EA and anxiety, and between anxiety and the potential benefit of motivation on EA. Thirty healthy younger (age range: 19–35 years; mean age 25.4 ± 5.1; 10 M) and 30 healthy older adults (age range: 61–83 years; mean age 69.7 ± 5.5; 12 M) took part in the study and performed both the classic Error Awareness Task (EAT) and one experimental task, called the Motivational EAT. In this new task, motivational incentives were delivered after aware correct responses and aware errors. For every participant, standard measures of state and trait anxiety and cognitive functions were collected. Confirming the presence of a significant age-related EA decline, results did not reveal any influence of reward motivation on EA, nor any relation between EA and anxiety. However, both younger and older adults had longer response times (RTs) and made more errors during the Motivational EAT, with the more anxious participants showing the greater RT slowing. Findings suggest that reward motivation might not be always beneficial for cognitive performance, as well as that anxiety does not relate to EA capacity. Results also recommend further investigation, as well as the assessment of EA in patients with either motivational deficits like apathy, and/or with anxiety disorders.

scholarly journals Frequency and Strategicness of Clock-Checking Explain Detrimental Age-Effects in Time-Based Prospective Memory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Joly-Burra ◽  
Maximilian Haas ◽  
Gianvito Laera ◽  
Paolo Ghisletta ◽  
Matthias Kliegel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Age Effect ◽  
Specific Time ◽  
Target Time ◽  
Adult Lifespan ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Respective Contribution ◽  
Age Range

Previous studies report that checking a clock either frequently or strategically (immediately before a target-time) improves the likelihood of remembering to perform a planned intention at a specific time (time-based prospective memory, TBPM). To disentangle the respective contribution of frequent vs. strategic clock-checking to age-related decrease in TBPM performance, we propose a new, more fine-grained indicator of strategicness. Together, both aspects of clock-checking fully mediated the negative age effect on TBPM performance and explained 54.6% of the variance of TBPM performance in an adult lifespan sample (N=221, age-range = 19-86), thereby providing avenues of intervention for improving older adults’ TBPM.

scholarly journals The Role of Analytical Reasoning and Source Credibility on the Evaluation of Real and Fake Full-Length News Articles

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didem Pehlivanoglu ◽  
Tian Lin ◽  
Farha Deceus ◽  
Amber Heemskerk ◽  
Natalie Ebner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Source Credibility ◽  
Full Length ◽  
News Story ◽  
Detection Accuracy ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Perceived Credibility ◽  
Analytical Reasoning ◽  
News Source ◽  
The Impact

Aim: Previous research has focused on accuracy associated with real and fake news presented in the form of news headlines only which does not capture the rich context news is frequently encountered in real life. Additionally, while the impact of analytical reasoning on news evaluation accuracy has commonly been examined, the impact of news source credibility on real and fake news detection is understudied. To address these research gaps, this project examined the role of analytical reasoning and news source credibility on evaluation of real and fake full-length news story articles. The project considered both accuracy and perceived credibility ratings as outcome variables, thus qualifying previous work focused solely on news detection accuracy. Method: We conducted two independent but parallel studies, with Study 2 as a direct replication of Study 1, employing the same design but in a larger sample (Study 1: N = 292 vs. Study 2: N = 357). In both studies, participants viewed 12 full-length news articles (6 real, 6 fake), followed by prompts to evaluate each article’s veracity and credibility. Participants were randomly assigned to view articles with a credible or non-credible source and completed the Cognitive Reflection Test as well as short demographic questions.Findings: Consistent in both studies, higher analytical reasoning was associated with greater fake news accuracy, while analytical reasoning was not associated with real news accuracy. In addition, in both studies, higher analytical reasoning was associated with lower perceived credibility for fake news, while analytical reasoning was not associated with perceived credibility for real news. Furthermore, lower analytical reasoning was associated with greater accuracy for real (but not fake) news from credible compared to non-credible sources, with this effect only detected in Study 2. Conclusions: The novel findings generated in this research are discussed in light of classical vs. naturalistic accounts of decision-making as well as cognitive processes underlying news articles evaluation. The results extend previous findings that analytical reasoning contributes to fake news detection to full-length news articles. Furthermore, news-related cues such as the credibility of the source systematically affected discrimination ability between real and fake news.

scholarly journals The Evaluation of Creative Ideas in Older and Younger Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-34
Author(s):  
Evgeniya Yu. Privodnova ◽  
Nina V. Volf ◽  
Gennady G. Knyazev
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Peak Frequency ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Cingulate Gyrus ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Alpha Peak

Abstract. The ability to solve problems of divergent type is one of the most intact functions in successful aging. However, neurophysiologic mechanisms that support the efficiency of creative thinking remain largely unknown. This study was aimed to investigate age-related difference in localized induced electroencephalogram (EEG) changes during creative idea evaluation stage of divergent problem-solving (Alternate Uses Task), using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography. Younger (45 women, 44 men, Mage = 22.1 years, age range: 18–30 years) and older adults (46 women, 43 men, Mage = 64.9 years, age range: 55–75 years) participated in the study. Higher synchronization in individually adjusted theta frequency band [from (individual alpha peak frequency −6 Hz) to (individual alpha peak frequency −4 Hz)] in anterior areas with the maximum values in anterior cingulate gyrus was revealed in older as compared with younger participants by group contrast. Higher desynchronization in wide beta range [from (individual alpha peak frequency +2 Hz) to 30 Hz] was localized in posterior brain regions with the highest values in posterior cingulate gyrus, precuneus, and parietal lobule in older adults. Induced beta 2 synchronization was positively correlated with originality (as measured by the mean frequency of ideas) in younger and years of education in older subjects. Based on the data, it was supposed that controlling the decision-making processes is more important for older adults while maintenance of the internal image of elements’ recombination may play essential role for younger subjects.

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